Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate elementary school students' understandings about scientific inquiry. Data were collected from 119 elementary students who are in the 4th grade using the Views About Scientific Inquiry questionnaire for elementary students (VASI-E). We also conducted semi-structured interviews of 21 students from 119 students who responded to VASI-E. Students' responses were analyzed as naive, mixed, or informed views on each aspect of scientific inquiry that VASI-E includes. We found that, first, 53.8% of students have mixed views, and 30.3% of students have informed views, and 16% of students have naive views on the knowledge 'investigation begin with a question'. Second, 54.6% of students have naive views, 37.8% of students have mixed views, and 7.6% of students have informed views on the knowledge 'scientists use many methods to answer their questions.' Third, 47.9% of students have informed views, 34.5% of students have naive views, and 17.6% of students have mixed views on 'procedures guided by question asked.' Fourth, 55.5% of students have mixed views, 42% of students have informed views, and only 2.5% of students have naive views on 'conclusions must be consistent with data and explanations come from data and prior knowledge.' Based on the results, implications for teaching and learning scientific inquiry at elementary level in Korea were discussed.